OCZ Trion 150 SSD Review (240GB/480GB/960GB)

Entry-level SSDs have been a hot commodity for many companies as of late. In the past few months we have seen many new TLC based options released into the market. Today, OCZ is back at it again with a new release, this time around it is an update to their entry-level SSD series, the OCZ Trion 150. By implementing Toshiba’s latest 15nm TLC NAND and improved firmware OCZ claims that users will see up to 50% faster performance over the original Trion 100. In addition to improved performance OCZ has also revamped the styling to an edgier look, and paired with a lower price point of just $0.27 per GB, the Trion 150 seems to be a very capable contender. Read on as we take a closer look to see how it performs in today’s review.

SPECIFICATIONS, PRICING, AND AVAILABILITY

The OCZ Trion 150 is a SATA 6Gb/s SSD that comes in a 7mm 2.5″ form factor. It is currently available in capacities of 120GB ($51.93), 240GB ($66.74), 480GB ($133.49), and 960GB ($259.99). Read speeds are rated for up to 550MB/s and 90K IOPS while write speeds are rated for up to 530MB/s and 64K IOPS. The endurance ratings vary depending on the capacity. The 120GB is rated for 30TB, 240GB for 60TB, 480GB for 120TB, and 960GB for 240TB. As an entry level product, it comes with a 3-yr warranty, however, this isn’t your standard warranty, it is OCZ’s Shield Plus Warranty. This provides for an elite worry-free customer service experience that eliminates the hassle surrounding traditional support and warranty claims, with exclusive features including free return shipping and advanced replacement. So, if you have any issues, they have you covered.

It supports TRIM and DevSleep. One can also go on OCZ’s website and download OCZ’s SSD Guru, which is a handy SSD toolbox for OCZ SSDs. With it you can monitor your drive, manually TRIM and secure erase, you can even update your firmware and send support requests to OCZ as well.

PACKAGING AND COMPONENTS

The design of the TRION 150 as well as the packaging has changed since the 100. Instead of an all-white box, they have gone with a sleeker blue graphical design. The front clearly shows the name and capacity, while the backside lists the product specifications.

There isn’t much inside besides the SSD and an installation and warranty literature.

The new look is very appealing, it is much more edgy than the TRION 100’s. The casing is a snap shell design, similar to many of the other entry level SSDs to help save on build of materials cost. Once disassembled we can see that there is a thermal pad on the controller to help distribute heat more efficiently through the casing.

Overall, the design is similar to the previous generation TRION, only now we can see that besides utilizing Toshiba’s newer 15nm TLC NAND, the PCB is also full-sized. The Trion 100 across all capacities utilized a smaller 3/4 length PCB design. The controller is the same Toshiba TC-58 and the DRAM varies between Micron and Nanya.